Steering apparatus for game machine

ABSTRACT

A steering apparatus for a game machine according to the invention has a mechanism in which a steering wheel is rotated in accordance with the steering operation of the player and is automatically returned to the center. An end cam which always receives the elastic force of a compression coil spring sets the steering wheel to the neutral position, namely, the center by way of a guide roller. For instance, when the player operates the steering wheel to the right rotational direction, the guide roller rotates to the right together with the steering shaft. Thus, the end cam moves along the axial direction of the steering shaft in accordance with a rotational angle of the steering wheel. Then, when the steering wheel is released, the end cam receives the elastic force of the compression coil spring and allows the steering wheel to be returned to the center by way of the guide roller without performing the reversing operation of the steering wheel. 
     In the apparatus of the invention, a detector of the rotational angle and rotational direction of the steering shaft is provided and an automobile displayed on the display is operated.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a steering apparatus for a game machineand, more particularly, to the improvement of a steering apparatus for amachine such as video game machine, simulator, or the like for anoperator to subject to a simulation of the operation of an automobile.

BACKGROUND ART

Hitherto, a steering apparatus for a machine such as video game machine,simulator, or the like for an operator to subject to a simulation of theoperation of an automobile has widely been known.

In such a kind or steering apparatus for the game machine, although asteering wheel can be freely rotated to the right and left, any specialdevice to automatically return to the center has not been made.Therefore, it is difficult to execute the steering operation foraccurately moving the automobile displayed on the display screen and thegame cannot be sufficiently enjoyed.

The inventor of the present invention has already proposed a steeringapparatus which can automatically return the steering wheel to thecenter (Japanese Patent Application No. 63-249135).

In the steering apparatus for a game machine which has already beenproposed by the inventor of the present invention, torsion coil springsfor rotating to the right and left are attached to a steering shaft, thesteering wheel may be automatically returned to the center from thepositions rotated to the right or left directions of the steeringoperation by the reactions of the torsion coil springs. Stoppers areprovided at the end points of the movement in the right and leftrotational directions of the steering wheel. That is, a rod memberattached perpendicularly to the midway of the steering shaft rotatestogether with the steering shaft and comes into abutment with a stopperrubber on the base side, thereby stopping the rotation of the steeringwheel.

In the above well-known apparatus, gears are used for acceleration fromthe steering shaft of an input shaft of an apparatus to detect arotational angle and a rotational direction.

In the above steering apparatus for the game machine, since two torsioncoil springs are used to return the steering wheel to the center, thereis a problem such that a structure is complicated and the assembly andadjustment are difficult.

On the other hand, since the gear mechanism is used to accelerate theapparatus for detecting the rotational angle and rotational direction,the costs are high.

Further, before the above steering apparatus is attached to a frame, itis divided into three assemblies, so that they cannot be easily attachedto the game machine.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention was made in order to solve the above problems andit is an object of the invention to provide a steering apparatus for agame machine in which the apparatus has an automatic center returnmechanism which can be reliably and safely operated by a simplemechanism and the apparatus may be assembled as a single unit.

The above object is accomplished by a steering apparatus for a gamemachine comprising structural elements disclosed in the following items(a) to (j):

(a) a base plate which is attached to a frame of the game machine;

(b) a steering shaft which is attached with a steering wheel at one endthereof and is rotatably supported on said base plate;

(c) a bracket fixed to an intermediate portion of said steering shaft;

(d) a guide roller which is rotatably supported by the bracket so that acentral axis of said guide roller crosses perpendicularly to thesteering shaft;

(e) an end cam which has a cam face consisting of a pair of symmetricalhelical surfaces which define one valley in a peripheral portion of oneend face and is coaxially provided for the steering shaft and is movablyprovided in its axial direction so that the cam face comes into contactwith the guide roller;

(f) a guide to block the rotation of the end cam and to allow themovement in only the axial direction;

(g) a coil spring for exerting an elastic force on the end cam so as topress the cam face of the end cam to the guide roller;

(h) a stopper comprising a turning pin provided for the steering wheeland a fixed pin provided on a turning track of the turning pin;

(i) a center detector for generating an output when the guide rollercoincides with the valley of the cam face of the end cam; and

(j) a rotational angle detecting means for detecting a rotational angleof the steering shaft.

On the other hand, the object of the invention may be also accomplishedby a modified embodiment in which the positions of the bracket and guideroller and the position of the end cam were exchanged.

With the above structure, according to the first embodiment, the end camwhich is exerted by the elastic force of the compression coil spring inthe ordinary state may position the steering wheel to the neutralposition, that is, the center by way of the guide roller. For instance,when the player operates the steering wheel in the right rotationaldirection, the guide roller rotates to the right together with thesteering shaft. Thus, the end cam moves along the axial direction of thesteering shaft in accordance with a rotational angle of the steeringwheel.

Then, if the steering wheel is released, the end cam receives theelastic force of the compression coil spring to thereby return thesteering wheel to the center by way of the guide roller withoutperforming the reversing operation of the steering wheel.

On the other hand, in the apparatus of the present invention, thedetectors for detecting the rotational angle and rotational direction ofthe steering shaft are provided and the automobile displayed on thedisplay screen may by operated.

According to the second embodiment, the guide roller which receives theelastic force of the compression coil spring in the ordinary state mayposition the steering wheel to the neutral position, that is, the centerby way of the end cam, so that the object similar to the firstembodiment may be accomplished.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view showing an embodiment of a steeringapparatus for a game machine according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial cross sectional view of a center return mechanismand a stopper shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are a back view and a side elevational view with a partcut away of a detecting section for detecting a rotational angle and arotational direction shown in FIG. 1, respectively;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view showing another embodiment of asteering apparatus for a game machine according to the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view of a center return mechanism sectionand a stopper section shown in FIG. 5.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A construction of the invention will be explained in more detailhereinbelow with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 to 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a steering wheel; 2 aturning pin for a stopper; 3 a bearing; 4 a cover; 5 a fixed pin for astopper; 6 a control panel of a game machine (not shown); 7 a base plateattached to the control panel 6; 8 a steering shaft attached to thesteering wheel 1; 9 and 10 collars; 11 a photo sensor for detecting thatthe steering wheel 1 is located at the center; 12 a light shieldingplate; 13 a bracket. 14 a nut; 15 a guide roller; 16 a nut; 17 abracket; 18 a guide; 19 an end cam; 20 a compression coil spring; 21 abush; 22 an accelerating cylinder provided at one end of the steeringshaft 8; 23 a friction rubber provided on the inside of the acceleratingcylinder 22; 24 a bracket; 25 a rotation detector having an input rotaryshaft 25a provided so as to come into contact with the friction rubber23; 26 a shaft for supporting the rotation detector 25 at one end of itsouter frame so as to freely swing; 27 a bracket; and 28 a compressionspring provided between the bracket 27 and the free end of the outerframe of the rotation detector 25, respectively.

The steering shaft 8 is attached with the steering wheel 1 at one endthereof.

The bearing 3 is attached onto the steering wheel side of the base plate7 through the bracket. The bracket 17 is attached to the opposite sideof the base plate 7. The steering shaft 8 is rotatably supported bythose parts. The base plate 7 is attached to the control panel 6 of thegame machine (not shown).

In order to construct stoppers for defining the end points of therotations to the right and left of the steering wheel 1, the turning pin2 is provided on the end face of the steering wheel 1. Further, thefixed pin 5 exists on the turning track of the turning pin 2 and thecover 4 covers those components.

The steering screw 8 is provided with a screw in the intermediateportion thereof. The collars 9 and 10 are fitted to the side of a largediameter of the steering shaft 8. An inner race of the bearing 3 issandwiched by both of the collar 9 and 10. On the other hand, the lightshielding plate 12 and bracket 13 for detecting the center are fixed tothe end portion of the collar 10 by the nut 14.

The guide roller 15 is attached to one end of the bracket 13 by the nut16.

When the steering 1 is located at the center, the light shielding plate12 allows the photo sensor 11 provided on the base plate 7 to generatean output signal.

The end cam 19 is almost cylindrical and has a cam face consisting of apair of symmetrical helical surfaces which form one valley on theperiphery of the end face on the side which is come into contact withthe guide roller 15. A spline groove is formed on the side surface ofthe end cam 19 in parallel with the center shaft. The spline groove iscome into engagement with the guide 18 to block the rotation of the endcam 19.

The end cam 19 is always pressed to the guide roller 15 by thecompression coil spring 20 provided between the cam 19 and the bracket17. Therefore, when no external force is exerted on the steering wheel1, the guide roller 15 remains dropped into the valley of the cam faceof the end cam 19, so that the steering wheel 1 is held at the neutralposition, that is, the center.

The accelerating cylinder 22 is coaxially provided at the tip of thesteering shaft 8. The friction rubber 23 is adhered onto the innersurface of the cylinder.

One end of the outer frame of the rotation detector 25 is pivotallysupported between the brackets 24 and 17 by the shaft 26. The other endof the outer frame is pushed up by the compression spring 28 attached tothe bracket 27, so that the input rotary shaft 25a is come into abutmentwith the friction rubber 23 and is rotated.

The rotation detector 25 detects right and left rotational angles of thesteering wheel by the rotation of the input rotary shaft 25a.

In the steering apparatus for the game machine according to theinvention, the guide roller 15 is always located at the center of theend cam 19 by the compression coil spring 20. For instance, when theplayer operates the steering wheel 1 in the right rotational direction,the guide roller 15 is rotated to the right around the center shaft ofthe steering shaft 8 together with the steering shaft 8 and pushes thecam face of the end cam 19 to the left in FIG. 1. Thus, the end cam 19is moved to the left in FIG. 1 along the axial direction of the steeringshaft 8 in accordance with the rotational angle. Next, when the playerreleases the steering wheel 1, the end cam 19 receives the elastic forceof the compression coil spring 20 to thereby move the guide roller 5 tothe position of the valley, namely, the center position of the end cam19. Thus, the steering wheel 1 may be automatically returned to thecenter.

On the other hand, the rotation detector 25 detects the rotational angleand rotational direction of the steering shaft 8 ans sends its output toa CPU (not shown) and controls the position of the automobile displayedon the display screen.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view showing another embodiment of asteering apparatus for a game machine according to the invention. FIG. 6is a cross sectional view of a part of a center return mechanism sectionand a stopper section shown in FIG. 5.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, reference numeral 1 denotes the steering wheel; a themovable pin for the stopper; 3 the bearing; 4 the cover; 5 the fixed pinfor the stopper; 6 the control panel of the game machine (not shown); 7the base plate attached to the control panel 6; 8' a steering shaftattached to the steering wheel 1; 9 and 10 the collars; 11 the photosensor for detecting that the steering wheel 1 is located at the center;12 the light shielding plate; 13' a bracket; 14' a nut; 15' a guideroller; 16' a nut 17' a bracket; 18' a guide; 19' an end cam; 20 thecompression coil spring; 21 the bush; 22 the accelerating cylinderprovided at one end of the steering shaft 8'; 23 the friction rubberprovided on the inside of the accelerating cylinder 22; 24 the bracket;25 the rotation detector having the input rotary shaft 25a which isprovided so as to come into contact with the friction rubber 23; 26 theshaft to support the rotation detector 25 at one end of the outer frameso as to freely swing; 27 the bracket; and 28 the compression springprovided between the bracket 27 and the free end of the outer frame ofthe rotation detector 25.

According to this embodiment, the positions of the bracket 13 and guideroller 15 and the position of the end cam 19 in the first embodimentshown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are exchanged. The end cam is fixed to thesteering shaft. The guide roller and its bracket are set to be movablein the direction of the center shaft of the steering shaft, therebyautomatically returning the steering wheel.

The end cam 19' is similar to that of the first embodiment. A cam faceconsisting of a pair of symmetrical helical surfaces defining one valleyis formed on the periphery of the end face on the side of the end cam19' which is come into contact with the guide roller 15'.

The bracket 13' is slidably supported on the small diameter side of thesteering shaft 8'. The guide roller 15' is attached to one end of thebracket 13' by the nut 16'. A notched groove is formed at the other end.The notched groove is come into engagement with the guide 18' to blockthe rotation of the bracket 13'.

The guide roller 15' is always pressed to the cam face of the end cam19' by the compression coil spring 20 provided between the brackets 13'and 17'. Therefore, when no external force is exerted on the steeringwheel 1, since the steering shaft 8' is held so that the valley of thecam face of the end cam 19' coincides with the guide roller 15', thesteering wheel 1 may be held at the neutral position, that is, thecenter.

The operations of the other portions are similar to those in the firstembodiment.

Since the present invention is constructed as mentioned above, accordingto the invention, it is possible to provide a miniaturized steeringapparatus for a game machine in which the steering wheel may beautomatically returned to the center by a simple mechanism.

The invention is not limited to the above embodiments but includes allof the variations and modifications which can be easily thought by theperson with an ordinary skill in the art from the above descriptionwithin the scope of the objects of the invention.

The scope of the invention, therefore, must be limited on the basis ofonly the scope of Claims shown hereinlater.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

A steering apparatus for a game machine according to the invention isused for a game machine which is mainly installed in a game center or arecreation field.

I claim:
 1. A steering apparatus for a game machine comprising:(a) abase plate (7) which is attached to a frame (6) of the game machine; (b)a steering shaft (8) which is attached with a steering wheel (1) at oneend thereof and is rotatably supported on said base plate (7); (c) abracket (13) fixed to an intermediate portion of said steering shaft(8); (d) a guide roller (15) which is rotatably supported by the bracket(13) so that a central axis of said guide roller crosses perpendicularlyto the steering shaft (8); (e) an end cam (19) which has a cam faceconsisting of a pair of symmetrical helical surface which define onevalley in a peripheral portion of one end face and is coaxially providedfor the steering shaft (8) and is movably provided in its axialdirection so that the cam face comes into contact with the guide roller(15); (f) a guide to block the rotation of the end cam (19) and to allowthe movement in only the axial direction; (g) a coil spring (20) forexerting an elastic force on the end cam (19) so as to press the camface of the end cam (19) to the guide roller (15); (h) a stoppercomprising a turning pin (2) provided for the steering wheel (1) and afixed pin (5) provided on a turning track of the turning pin (2); (i) acenter detector (11) for generating an output when the guide roller (15)coincides with the valley of the cam face of the end cam (19); and (j) arotational angle detecting means (25) for detecting a rotational angleof the steering shaft (8).
 2. A steering apparatus for a game machinecomprising:(a) a base plate (7) which is attached to a frame (6) of thegame machine; (b) a steering shaft (8') which is attached with asteering wheel (1) at one end thereof and is rotatably supported on thebase plate (7); (c) an end cam (19) which has a cam face consisting of apair of symmetrical helical surfaces which define one valley in aperipheral portion of one end face and is coaxially fixed to anintermediate portion of the steering shaft (8'); (d) a bracket (13')which is slidably provided in the intermediate portion of the steeringshaft (8'); (e) a guide roller (15') which is supported by the bracket(13') so that a central axis of said guide roller (15') crossesperpendicularly to the steering shaft (8') and an outer peripheralsurface comes into contact with the cam face of the end cam (19') androlls; (f) a guide (18') to block the rotation of the bracket (13')around the steering shaft (8') and to allow the movement in only theaxial direction; (g) a coil spring (20) for exerting an elastic force onthe end cam (19') so as to press the cam face of the end cam (19') tothe guide roller (15'); (h) a stopper comprising a turning pin (2)provided for the steering wheel (1) and a fixed pin (5) provided on aturning track of the turning pin (2); (i) a center detector (11) forgenerating an output when the guide roller (15') coincides with thevalley of the cam face of the end cam (19'); and (j) a rotational angledetecting means (25) for detecting a rotational angle of the steeringshaft (8').